Handle for burial-caskets.



No. 723,993. PATENTED MAR. 31. 1903. M. F. DAVORAN & P. WARTHER. HANDLE FOR BURIAL GASKETS.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 26. 1902 N0 MODEL.

W EW IIII/I W W 442M UNITED S AT PA NT OFFICE.

MICHAEL FRANCIS DAVORAN ANDFRANK WARTHER, or INCINNATI, 01-110, ASSIGNORS TO THE CRANE a BREED MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or

CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

HANDLE FOR BURlAL CASKETSL SPECIFICATION forming part Letters Patent No. 723,993, dated March 31, 1903. Application filed $eptember 26,1902. Serial No. 124,926; (No model.)

To all whom, it minty concern:

Be it known that we, MICHAEL FRANCIS DAvoRAN and FRANK WARTHER, Citizens of the United States of America, and residents 5 of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and I ments in handles such as are especially used A upon caskets, coffins, and the like; andthe object of the invention is to provide a handle of this character of a simple, light, and inex pensive nature and provided with reinforcing or strengthening means of an improved and simplified construction,whereby the improved handle may be made of great strength, so as to insure against accidental breakage of the handle while in use, the structure being such that the additional strength is attained without rendering the handle unsightly or clumsy in proportions and without unnecessarily increasing the cost of manufacture thereof. 2 5 The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved casket or coffin handle, whereby certain important advantages are attained and the deviceis made simpler, cheaper,and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for I use than various other forms of casket or coffin handle heretofore devised, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth. The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate our improvements, Figure l is afront elevation showing a casket or coffin han- 40 dle constructed according to our invention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken vertically through the handle embodying our improvements, the swinging arm of the handle being shown in raised positionand the plane of the section being indicated by the line a a in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view also taken vertically through the pivotal connection of the swinging arm with the escutcheon-plate of the handle, the plane of the section being indicated by the line b b in Fig. 2. Fig. 4:

- Fig. 2.

is a partial sectional view taken vertically through the lower part of the escutcheon-plate of the handle in the 'plane indicated by the line a c in Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a partial section taken transversely through the escutcheonunder or rear side of the loop carried on the swinging arm, through which the hand-bar is passed and showing the location of the opening for receiving the screw by means of which the hand-bar is held to said arm, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 6 e in Fig. 7 is a front view showing the re- 6 inforcing device employed for reinforcing or strengthening theescutcheon-plate of the improved handle, and Fig.8 is a view showing said reinforcing devicein end elevation. Fig. 9 is a view showing the under side of the re- 79 inforcing device employed .for reinforcing or strengthening the swinging arm of the im proved handle. Fig. 10 is a partial side elevation of the swinging arm of the handle,showing the construction at the pivotal end of the same. Fig. 11 is'a view showing a modified form of reinforcing device adapted for use as a-strengthening-reinforce for the swinging arm of the improved handle.

As shown in the views, the improved han- 8o dle is made in a well-known style and comprises an escutche'on-plate adapted for attachment by means of screws or the like to theside of a casket or coifin and a swinging arm held by a pivotal, connection to the escutcheon-plate and having a circular loop at its freeend adapted for the passage of a handbar, which may be grasped by the hand of a bearer lifting and carrying the coffin. There are commonly two escutcheon plates and go swinging arms employed in connection with each hand-bar, the hand-bar being extended between theswinging arms; but since our improvements relate more especially to the improved construction of the escutcheon-plate 5 and its swinging arm We have illustrated herein only the said plate and swinging arm.

1 indicates as a whole the escutcheon-plate of the improved handle, and this plate is usually cast from soft metal, so as to adapt it for being plated, and is made in any suitable design, being provided with openings 2 2, suitably arranged for receiving screws or similar devices for the attachment of the plate 1 to the side of a casket or coffin. The central portion of the plate 1 is formed with an outwardly-extended bearing portion or socketpiece 4 of a general rounded form, and this socket-piece or portion 4 is hollowed out, as shown at 5, upon the rear face of the escntcheon-plate to form a chamber, in which is adapted to he received the pivotal end of the swinging arm of the handle, said socket-piece or portion 4 being formed at opposite sides with outwardly-extended lugs 6 6, which are perforated for the passage of a pivot-pin 9, whereon the swinging arm 10 of the handle is held for pivotal movement. The thickness of the lugs 6 6 is such that the adjacent side portions thereof are extended inward beyond the opposite side walls of the chamber 5, as shown at 8 8 in Figs. 3 and 5, being separated by a space or opening 7, which latter is by this construction made of less width than the upper portion of the said chamber which lies above said lugs 6 0.

11 indicates the pivotal end portion of the swinging arm 10, said end portion 11 being 1 formed at its upper part with a semispherical surface adapted to fit snugly within the opening of the socket-piece or portion 4and to play in the chamber 5 as the swinging arm is moved pivotally to raised or lowered position, the construction being such that the opening in the socket-piece through which said end 11 of the arm 10 plays is filled and closed at all times thereby. The lower part of said end portion 11 of the swinging arm is made of a reduced thickness corresponding to the space 7 between the adjacent sides of the lugs (3 6, and said reduced portion is extended down below the under side of the arm, as indicated at 12 in Figs. 2, 3, and 10, and is fitted between the projecting portions 8 S of the lugs 6 in the space 7, the opposite sides of the end portion of the arm 10 being cut out or recessed, as shown at 13, to receive said extended portions 8 of the lug6 and the thinner portion 12 of the arm being perfo-,

rated for the passage of the pivotpin 9, by ineans of which said arm is held for pivotal movement to the lugs.

The swinging arm 10 is also usually formed from cast metal, so that it may be plated and ornamented with any desired design, and the pivotal end portion 11 of said arm has the under side of its extremity beyond the pivotpoint formed into a shoulder 14, which when the said arm is in raised position,as indicated at Fig. 2, is adapted to engage upon a stop 15, formed by the upper end surface of a web, forming a portion of the front wall of the escutcheon-plate l and extended up between the lugs 6 6 and into the lower portion of the chamber 5, as shown in Figs. 2, 4, and 5 of the drawings.

16 indicates the circular loop formed upon the outer or free end of the swinging arm 10 and adapted for the passage of a hand-bar, which may be passed through said loop and held therein, as indicated at 17 in Fig. 2.

18 indicates a shoulder produced upon the upper or outer surface of the pivotal end 11 of the arm 10 in position when said arm is in raised position, as indicated in Fig. 2, to engage upon the front surface of the socketpiece or portion 4, at the upper part thereof, the proportion of the parts being such that said shoulder 18 is engaged with the front surface of the piece or portion 4 simultaneously with the engagement of the shoulder 14 upon the stop 15.

Since the escutcheon-plate and swinging arm are usually formed from soft cast metal for simplicity and cheapness of manufacture, it is essential to provide some means for reinforcing and strengthening the parts, and at 19 we have indicated a form of reinforcing device especially well adapted for use for reinforcing and strengthening the escutcheonplate. This reinforcing device 19 is shown detached and in detail in Figs. 7 and 8 and is shown in sizfu and embedded within the soft castmetal in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and said device comprises a section or length of hardmetal wire of suitable strength and stiffness, the opposite side portions of which are bent to form loops or bights 20, adapted to be embedded in the front wall of the escutcheonplate 1 in position to encircle the openings 2 2, through which the screws or other devices employed for holding the escntcheonrplate to the casket or coffin side are passed, so that said screws when inserted to hold the plate 1 to the coflin or casket serve also to effectually and securely grip the lower portion of the reinforce 19, formed of said loops 20. The central portion of the reinforcing device 19 between the loops or bights 2O 20 is bent upward, as indicated at 21 on the drawings, and is embedded within the web of which the stop 15 is formed, its upper transverse portion 21 being embedded in said web parallel with the upper edge thereof, which forms the stop 15, in such away that when said stop 15 is engaged by the shoulder 14 on the under side of the pivotal end 11 of the arm 10 in the raising of said arm the stop 15 will be very greatly stiffened and strengthened and the strains imposed in lifting and carrying the casket or coflin to which the handle is attremities 22 of the metal wire of which the reinforcing device 19 is formed are bent forwardly from the plane in which the loops or bights 20 20 are embedded in the front wall of the plate 1 and are embedded in the for wardly-extended arms or lugs 6 6 in order to impart strength and stiffness thereto, the free ends of said outwardly-bent portions 22 of the reinforcing device 19 being formed with loops 23 bent in them in alinement with the perforations through which the pivot-pin 9 is to be passed, so that when the parts are assembled the strains imposed on said pivot-pin in lifting and bearing the casket or cofiin will not be communicated directly to the soft metal of which the lugs 6 and the body of the escutcheon-plate are formed, but will be transmitted through the reinforcing device to the screws, by means of which the handle is held to the casket or coffin.

For imparting the required strength and stiffness to the swinging arm 10 of the handle we provide the reinforcing device 24. (Shown in position in Figs. 2, 3, and 6 and detached in Fig. 9.) This reinforcing device 24 is also formed from hard-metal wire folded at its central part,.as indicated at w, to produce two plies or thicknesses, each of which has a circular loop 26, adapted to be embedded within the soft metal of the arm at the loop 16 thereof in order to impart strength and stiffness to said arm at the point when the hand-bar 17 is held thereby. Upon the under or rear side of the loop 16 of arm 10 is formed an opening 27 for the passage of a screw for use in holding the hand-bar 17 securely in relation to said loop 16, and to provide space for forming the opening 27 the loops 26 26 at that part of the arm 10 are spaced apart, as shown at 26 in Figs. 6 and 9. By this construction the screw when inserted at the opening 27 bears forcibly upon the two loops 26 26 of the reinforcing device and securely holds the same to the hand-bar. Beyond the loops 26 26 the two plies of the reinforcing device 24 are extended parallel to each other to form straight reinforces 28 28 for the central portion of the arm 10, these straight reinforces 28 28 being embedded in the soft metal of the arm and being extended up within the same to the pivotal point of said arm where each of said reinforces is provided with a loop or eye 29,

bent in it and adapted to encircle the pivot-pin 9. By this construction it will be'seen that the arm 10 is materially strengthened and stifiened to enable it to better withstand the strains placed upon it in lifting and carrying the casket or coffin. Beyond the loops or eyes 29 the extremities of. the two plies of the reinforcing device 24 are extended rearward within the pivotal portion 11 and above the shoulder 14, so as to strengthen said shoulder, and beyond the portions 29 the ends of the reinforcing device are upbent, as shown at 31 in Fig. 2, to strengthen the portion 11 of the arm at the shoulder 18. By thisconstruction it will be-seen that the improved handle is of a very simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use, since it is both light and inexpensive and is capable of being made of greatly-increased strength without rendering the structure clumsy or in any way detracting from the appearance thereof. Since all strains imposed upon the handle in lifting or bearing the casket or eon-plate, it will be seen that but little strain is imposed upon the soft metal of which the main portions of the. plate 1 and arm 10 are formed.

In some cases it may be desirable to use a fiat metal reinforce in connection with the which has engagement with the stop 15 of,

the escutcheon-plate when the parts are assembled.

The employment of the reinforces formed of bent hard-metal wire affords an extremely strong structure of the handle and one that is very inexpensive, since the reinforces may be readily bent into form. The reinforces, constructed as shown herein, are alsocapable of being readily supported in the molds, so that imperfections in the castings are avoided. It will also be obvious from the above description of our improvements that the device constructed according to the invention is capable of considerable modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason we do not Wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts herein set forth.

Having thus described our invention, we

claim v 1. A casket or coflin handle having a portion formed of soft metal and provided with openings for the passage of screws, lugs adapt ed to support a pivot-pin, and a web extended between said lugs with its upper edge adapted for engagement with a shoulder on a swing ing arm, and a reinforce formed of bent hardmetal Wire embedded in the soft metal, the sides of said reinforce being formed with loops extended around the openings in the softmetal portion and the extremities of said reinforce being extended up from said loops and embedded in the lugs and "having loops adapted for the passage of apivot-pin and the central portion of the reinforce being upbent from said loops and embedded within the web between the lugs with its upper part parallel with the upper edge of the. web, substantially as described.

2. A casket or coffin handle comprising an escutcheon plate having a socket portion formed with a chamber to receive the pivoted end of a swinging arm, lugs at the sides of thesocket portion and adapted to support a pivot-pin, and a stop between the lugs, a pivot-pin extended between the lugs, and a swinging arm formed from soft metal, with one end engaged in the chamber of the socket portion and held on the pivot-pin and provided with a shoulder for engagement with the stop between the lugs and its opposite end provided with a loop to receive a handbar, said swinging arm having embedded in it a reinforce formed from hard-metal wire, one end of which has a loop embedded in the pivoted end of the arm encircling the pivot-pin, and is provided with a portion extended beyond the pivot-pin and embedded in the shouldered portion of the arm, the opposite end of thereinforce being bent in circular form and extended around within the looped end of the arm, substantially as described.

3. A casket or coffin handle comprising an escutcheon-plate, having lugs spaced apart and provided with a stop between the lugs, a pivot-pin extended between the lugs, and a swinging arm formed from soft metal with one end held to the pivot-pin between the lugs and provided with a shoulder to engage the stop of the escutcheon-plate and its opposite end formed with a loop adapted to receive a handbar and provided with an open ing for the passage of ascrew for holding the hand-bar in relation, said arm having embedded in it a reinforce formed from a piece of hard-metal wire centrally bent to form two plies, both plies being bent in circular form and extended around the'loop of the arm at opposite sides of the screw-opening therein, and being extended through the arm parallel with each other and formed with loops encircling the pivot-pin and with extremities beyond the pivot-pin and embedded in the shoulder of the arm and being bent up beyond the shoulder to strengthen the pivoted end of the arm, substantially as described.

Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 23d day of September, 1902.

MICHAEL FRANCIS DAVORAN. FRANK WARTHER.

WVitnesses:

WM. J. BREED, JOHN ELIAS JONES. 

